When Liu Heshou was eating hot pot in Macheng for the New Year, more than 2,000 miles away in Danshui County, Nanyang County, a group of farmers from soil buns were talking about his goodness.

In the Zhaojiawu Fort, it has now been transformed into a veritable "headquarters" by Deng Hai and Chen Gui, the soldiers in the fort are densely packed and heavily guarded, and a large number of weapons, armor and arrows seized from the official treasury of Danshui County are stored, as well as various gold and silver treasures, grain, forage and so on.

These military rations and grass are not the private property of the rebel leaders Deng Hai and Chen Gui, but the entire Shenxi army. In order to prevent individuals from embezzling the materials accumulated in the dock, Tian Chou specially arranged for 30 veterans and 200 recruits to be stationed in the fort for a long time.

Tian Chou had no relatives and no reason in Nanyang, and he was responsible for supervising and managing these hard-won grain and grass materials, and the entire Shenxi army was very convinced.

Because the "rent reduction and interest reduction" campaign was carried out resolutely and thoroughly, the wealthy families and landlords in the nearby counties had to reduce the land rent for the tenants and reduce the old rent in the past, so that the poor people in Danshui County finally had surplus food for the New Year.

Drink water and don't forget to dig wells, although the vast majority of ordinary people don't know who is leading the fight behind the scenes, but everyone in the Shenxi army is grateful for the good of the eldest prince who is far away in Youzhou.

During Liu He's sneak from Nanyang to Jizhou, it was the time when the people of Danshui became the most violent. This "rent reduction and interest reduction" movement originated from Sanheting, because there were masters behind the scenes to manipulate and guide, so the nature was completely different from the Yellow Turban Rebellion in previous years, not only was it not suppressed by the troops sent by Yuan Shu, but it became more and more courageous, and gradually became the climate.

Their purpose was to overthrow the rule of the imperial court, but they did not have a clear policy program and unified action command, so they were extremely destructive, but it was difficult to get the support of the vast number of poor people, and they could only adopt the method of coercion, like locusts crossing the border, and they would harm wherever they went, and they would inevitably not be able to last.

Liu He personally designed and lit this fire of "rent reduction and interest reduction", not to mention the big and empty slogan of overthrowing the imperial court and the government, and specifically united the tenant farmers and displaced people at the lowest level of society to fight against the wealthy and landlords, and the demands put forward were not very excessive, but only forced the wealthy landlords to reduce the land rent and reduce the interest on the old rent.

Compared with the Yellow Turban Moth thieves, who rushed into the county yamen at every turn to kill all the officials, and rushed into the grange to kill the entire family of the landlord and wealthy family, this limited degree of confrontation is obviously easy for most people to accept.

For example, after the rent-resisting peasants drove Yuan Yin away from the county seat of Danshui, they did not rush into the city to burn and loot, but left some people to guard the county, while more people moved to nearby Shangmi Township, Nanxiang Township, Shunyang and other places to continue the movement, calling on more tenants to participate in this collective struggle.

If the tenant farmers and tenants besieging the county seat rushed into Danshui County to burn, kill, and plunder, just like the Yellow Turban Disaster at the beginning, it would immediately arouse fierce opposition from many people in the county, after all, there were only a few wealthy families living in the county, and more people were ordinary people. It was precisely because they were restrained and did not do so that they gained the understanding and support of ordinary civilians, so when Zhang Xun led the army to suppress it, no one in the city rose up to cause trouble and sabotage from within.

For another example, Qujiawubao took the initiative to reduce rents and interest rates for tenants and tenant farmers, and as a result, it was welcomed and supported by the local peasants, not only did not suffer any damage in the civil uprising, but was protected, and also took advantage of the situation to annex the land of the Zhao family and the Jing family. What will happen to the Zhao family and the Jing family? It's not because they like to send some soldiers to run rampant in the countryside at every turn, forcibly collect land rent, and disregard people's lives!

In addition to putting forward the slogan of "rent reduction and interest reduction", Liu He left a very fatal concept for the buns of Sanhuting, that is, to arm the homesteaders! It is useless to organize only a few vigorous struggles, and when the popular uprising has subsided, the "fruits of the revolution" that everyone has won with great difficulty will soon be seized again by the wealthy and landlords. To prevent this from happening, tenants and tenant farmers must be armed and maintain a deterrent force at all times, taking part in the farming work and fighting back when there is a serious threat.

The Shen Xi Army left by Liu He to Tian Chou, Chen Gui, Deng Hai and others is such a force.

Perhaps, even Liu He himself would not have thought that when he left Nanyang, the number of Shen Xijun was only a few hundred, but by the end of the year, it had exceeded 10,000!

These 10,000 people are not a rabble of the old, weak, sick and disabled, but sturdy men selected by Chen Gui and Deng Hai from among the "rebel activists" in various counties and townships. The soldiers who joined in later were all tenants and homeless people who had lost their fields, in a word, the poor had only one life left, and the barefoot were not afraid to wear shoes.

Because everyone has a "case record", they don't need Tian Chou to agitate at all, they will naturally come together, firmly hold together, and face the counterattack and attack of the landlords and the government together.

When Zhang Xun led an army of 10,000 to seize Danshui County, Tian Chou mobilized more than 2,000 troops from Fengxiang City, mobilized the private soldiers of the Qu family and the Shenxi army, and confronted Zhang Xun with the city. In the process of confrontation, more and more young people at the bottom joined in, and they fought side by side with the Shen Xi army to repel Zhang Xun's attack.

Nanyang has 37 cities, 500,000 households, and a total population of more than 2.4 million, which is the largest county in the Eastern Han Dynasty, not only has agriculture and handicraft industry is very developed, but also is the county with the largest pig iron output in the Han Dynasty. The people of Danshui have been martial arts since ancient times, and there are many people who practice martial arts among the young and strong, so it is naturally a place for high-class soldiers to be raised.

The dense population, the abundance of pig iron to make weapons and armor, the large number of craftsmen, and the peasants who dared to rise up to fight all these factors contributed to the rapid growth of the Shenxi army in the Danshui area.

As the size of the team continued to expand, Tian Chou's irreplaceable role became apparent, he hid behind Chen Gui and Deng Hai, helping them formulate various management and training systems, select available big and small leaders, deal with various complex internal affairs, draw up plans and plans for the war, and coordinate the relationship between the Shen Xi army and the Fengxiang City Force, Qujiawu Fort and even the government.

It can be said that the Shen Xijun was able to expand so smoothly and at a high speed, but it did not explode with a "bang" like a balloon, and Tian Chou contributed a lot.

In addition to Tian Chou, Qu Meng also played a great role. This young man, who had been with Liu He for a period of time, didn't know what evil was in the way, and recited the mantra of "what you get on paper is shallow, and you must bow down to it" every day, like a spirited little tiger, from time to time to inspect the barracks and training grounds, inspect the dock fort and grange, inspect the granary and the warehouse, and once they find something wrong, they either force Deng Hai and Chen Gui to correct it immediately, or go to Tian Chou to complain......

Deng Hai and Chen Gui both shouted Qu Meng "little ancestor" behind their backs, they were really squeezed ruthlessly, and they felt that the little son of the Qu family was a little more serious than Liu He's eldest son.

In order not to attract a full-scale siege by Yuan Shu, after Tian Chou took control of the two adjacent cities of Danshui and Shangmi, he deliberately slowed down the pace of expansion, concentrated on the training of the Shenxi army and the construction of "base areas", and no longer encouraged more people to participate in the popular uprising.

After Zhang Xun was repulsed, Yuan Shu also thought about sending a large army to Danshui to suppress it, but he suddenly received news from Yanzhou, and learned that Cao Cao, who was good friends with Yuan Shao, served as the pastor of Yanzhou and began to recruit a large number of troops in Chenliu and Dong County.

According to the original trajectory of history, when Sun Jian arrived at the end of this year, he was ordered by Yuan Shu to attack Liu Biao in Xiangyang, but was ambushed by Liu Biao's subordinates Huang Zu in the middle of Da Xian Mountain, and was killed by random arrows. Now, because Liu He flapped his "wings", the situation changed, and Sun Jian was ordered to garrison troops in Luyang, and finally escaped a catastrophe.

Liu He left the next dark chess move in Danshui, so he picked up 10,000 Shen Xi troops for nothing, but he inadvertently saved Sun Jian's life, leaving a strong opponent for his future, and I don't know if he made or lost?

After the outbreak of the Danshui militia, the impact did not stop there. Dong Zhuo, an old thief who was far away in Chang'an, didn't know who he had heard, and thought that the Nanyang civil rebellion might have been deliberately created by someone, with the intention of spreading to the Guanzhong region through Wuguan and affecting the foundation of his rule. Dong Zhuo then transferred Duan Xuan, the guard of Wuguan, to Huayin County, ten miles west of Tongguan, and sent Zhang Ji to lead 15,000 men to garrison Wuguan.

After Dong Fatzi changed the guards of Wuguan, he still felt that Chang'an was not safe enough, so at the end of the year, he drove 250,000 people to build a dock fort on an east-west loess ridge in Yixian County, which was two hundred miles west of Chang'an City.

There was food that could be eaten for 20 years in Yiwu, and Dong Zhuo selected 800 young beauties from the people to enrich it, and the gold and jade, colored silk, and pearls were piled up in countless quantities. Dong Zhuo said to his subordinates: "After the completion of the Yiwu, the success of the matter can dominate the world; If it doesn't work, it is enough to stay in this dock. Dong Zhuo's words undoubtedly revealed his nouveau riche face.

On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, Tian Qian gathered Deng Hai, Chen Gui, Zhu Biao, the second head of Fengxiang City, and Shao Yu and Qu Meng, the third head of the city, to celebrate the achievements of the past year in Wubao and discuss the development plan for the coming year.

Deng Hai patted his chest and said: "I, Deng Da, am a dirt bun, I haven't read a day of books, and I don't understand those big truths, but I remember one thing, that is, 'Whatever the son has said, keep it firmly in my heart; Everything that the son confesses must be resolutely implemented! 'Although Childe is far away in Youzhou, the team he left behind is still there, we must defend it for Childe, guard it! ”

Chen Gui disagreed with Deng Hai's words, and said noisily: "Deng Da, what you said is not right! We not only have to defend and defend the team left by Gongzi, but we also have to expand the Shenxi army, expand the territory, and give the entire Nanyang to Gongzi to snatch from Yuan Shu! ”

Tian Chou said: "You two guys, what you said is not right! Some time ago, Gongzi sent someone to send a secret letter, instructing us not to be impatient and rash, but to base ourselves on the favorable terrain of the mountains and hills, and resolutely implement the 'guerrilla policy' he set when he left, on the one hand, continue to expand the base of the people, and on the other hand, temper the combat strength of the Shenxi army, and when the time is ripe, we can set up the banner of the word "Liu" in Nanyang! ”

Zhu Biao and Shao Tong said that they would do things according to the will of the eldest prince, and Qu Meng also said that he would do a good job within the Qu family, so that his grandfather Qu Lin and father Qu Yong would continue to support Shen Xijun in secret.

The dark chess piece left between Liu and Wuxin has taken root and grown inexorably......